U.S. stocks fell to the lowest since July, breaking below chart
levels that have held for four months, as concern over everything from
presidential politics to Federal Reserve rate hikes and coming data on
the labor market sent gauges of anxiety surging.
The S&P 500
Index fell 0.7 percent to 2,111.76 at 4 p.m. in New York, the most since
Oct. 11. The index sank as low as 2,097.85 before a bounce, and has
tumbled 1.8 percent during a six-day losing streak that’s its longest
since August 2015. It last fell below 2,100 on July 7.
“This
unbelievable election season we’re going through isn’t exactly
engendering confidence,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at
Philadelphia Trust Co., which oversees $2 billion, said by phone.
“There’s more uncertainty as nervousness reaches a crescendo in the
final days. Earnings season is basically over, and while it was a pretty
good one, there’s nothing out there to trigger an up-move.”
U.S.
equities joined a selloff in riskier assets following an ABC
News/Washington Post tracking poll that showed Republican Donald Trump
with 46 percent support to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 45 percent. Gold
surged more than 1 percent, the dollar weakened versus the Swiss franc,
and Mexico’s peso, considered an inverse proxy for Trump’s election
fortunes, tumbled.
Pacing the equity declines, Pfizer Inc.
sank the most in three months as its quarterly profit fell short of
estimates, while Apple Inc. slipped to a seven-week low to weigh on
technology shares, amid signs of softness in demand in China for the
iPhone 7. Occidental Petroleum Corp. dropped the most since March
following its results.
Tuesday’s equity rout jolted stocks from
the tightest trading range since 2006 as investors brace for market
turmoil a week from one of the most contentious presidential elections
in memory. Just four months removed from the U.K.’s shock decision to
leave the European Union in an outcome not predicted by betting markets,
anxiety levels have spiked as Clinton’s once dominant lead over Trump
withers in the latest polls.
“So many people have said that if
Trump wins there’s going to be some big downside event and with the
polls tightening and revelations around Clinton, it just has traders
looking to trade on the basis of that,” said Jim Paulsen, chief
investment strategist at Wells Capital Management. “Then it caught some
momentum, because we took out some of the lows technically where we’ve
been at since it rallied to new highs.”
Hedges
against a market decline surged in recent days. The CBOE Volatility
Index yesterday capped its biggest monthly jump since August 2015, with
the measure of market turbulence known as the VIX rising 28 percent
during the period. The S&P 500 fell 1.9 percent in October, the most
since a selloff at the start of the year, trimming its annual advance
to 4 percent. The last time it fell below 2,100, it started a five-week
rally of 4.4 percent that took it to its most recent all-time high.
Ten
of 11 main industries in the S&P 500 fell Tuesday, with real estate
and utility stocks leading losses with declines of at least 1.7
percent. Technology shares, the biggest group by weighting, slid 0.8
percent as Apple and Facebook Inc. dropped more than 1.1 percent.
A report Tuesday showed America’s factories
barely expanded last month as faster production cushioned a slowdown in
orders that signals a plodding manufacturing sector. Earnings are also
in focus, with 40 members of the S&P 500 reporting Tuesday.
Two-thirds of the way through the season, analysts now expect
third-quarter profit growth of 1.6 percent for the benchmark’s
constituents, after calling for declines as recently as Oct. 21. If the
forecast holds, it would bring an end to the longest earnings recession
since the financial crisis.
“La sabiduría de la vida consiste en la eliminación de lo no esencial. En reducir los problemas de la filosofía a unos pocos solamente: el goce del hogar, de la vida, de la naturaleza, de la cultura”. Lin Yutang
Cervantes
Hoy es el día más hermoso de nuestra vida, querido Sancho; los obstáculos más grandes, nuestras propias indecisiones; nuestro enemigo más fuerte, el miedo al poderoso y a nosotros mismos; la cosa más fácil, equivocarnos; la más destructiva, la mentira y el egoísmo; la peor derrota, el desaliento; los defectos más peligrosos, la soberbia y el rencor; las sensaciones más gratas, la buena conciencia, el esfuerzo para ser mejores sin ser perfectos, y sobretodo, la disposición para hacer el bien y combatir la injusticia dondequiera que esté.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quijote de la Mancha.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quijote de la Mancha.